red elephant

Burgers for MS

Well, May is here again. That means that my father and I will be riding bikes to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. We've been doing this for several years now, and it's always a good time. I'm sure some of you already got hit up by Joe for the MS Walk in NYC. Joe's mother is living with MS, so he takes raising money pretty seriously.

I'll be doing my part by hosting a little fundraiser at my house this Saturday, May 20, at 7pm. I'll be grilling burgers and asking for a $5 donation.  No, you don't need to donate to come. Yes, there will be turkey burgers & soyburgs for those who are not into cow. Yes, dogs are welcome. Yes, I will provide drinks. Yes, you can bring your own side dish.

If you can't make it, you can always pledge over the web through my team's webpage. [Thanks to Lindsy, who was the first to do this. It's not hard, is it Ms. D?] Thanks also to Dan & Erin, both of whom have sent checks already.

While we're on the subject of food & drink, check out this great article on fat v. skinny asparagus in the NYT.

And feel free to try out the new wine tagging / review site Cork'd.

Brain Dump

Stream of Consciousness links post today, folks:

First of all, I am super excited that Jonathan Lethem won a MacArthur Fellowship. Actually, check out his site, the front pages cycles through a number of different images each time you load it.

He's one of my favorite genre fiction writers, or perhaps cross-genre writer would be a better description. He's written a bizarre romance between a man, woman & a scientific anomaly. He's written the story of a teenage girl that is a frontier-environmental psychological novel that takes place on another planet -- that has deer the size of mice.

I really loved Motherless Brooklyn, which is the story of a detective with Tourette's, which is being made into a movie by Edward Norton, who will also be starring as Lionel. I don't know how many of you saw The Score, but I think he'll do a faithful, yet tasteful job of playing someone with Tourette's. It should be interesting since in the book Lionel is perfectly able to narrate to us in normal tones about what's going on & how he responds to his Tourette's. But the tics themselves are considerably harder to handle.

While I'm on the subject of movie adaptations, I'm quite interested in Steve Martin's Shopgirl. I liked the novella quite a bit. It reads a bit like Milan Kundera, but in an American style, that is to say, it's a bit lighter. Instead of being set against, say, the Prague Spring, this May to December romance/love triangle is set in New York at the end of the 90s. Plus it's got Jason Schwartzman & Claire Danes. [hawt]

I've also been fascinated by the combination of plotting information on to Google Maps. There's the obvious usefulness of posting real estate listings. There's the pure entertainment of mapping HotOrNot. And there's the strange mixture of the two when you start mapping sex offenders.

Maybe even better than Nixon Bowling, is the ability to check out Celebrities Playing Table Tennis. Man, I wish I had a table. I also wish I had the Achiever's Edition of the Big Lebowski, which is coming out the same time as LebowskiFest-NYC this year. Yes, I'm a big nerd for wanting to go, but I have a feeling that Jim and I will hit the road one of these days for some serious bowling/movie action.

The British Library has an online exhibit of really old books, like the Diamond Sutra and Alice's Adventures Underground. I found the pages kind of hard to turn, but you can also have the audio read to you while you check it out.

Ever wonder to yourself, "What should I read next?" Well, here's a collection of answers for you. Just enter the last book you read, or a favorite book, and it'll do the rest.

If you are a fan, you might want to listen to cover versions of songs by The Magnetic Fields. Even if you are not a fan.

According to Jeff Roland, Sam Jackson is going to star in a movie about Snakes on a Plane. Damn.

For you hipsters out there, check out the annotated lyrics to LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge." Follow along at home. Tell your friends. You were there.

Finally, Will bananas become extinct?

Bits & Pieces

Hell of a couple of weeks. Everything with Graham has been emotionally trying. Follow that with a couple of my best friends, Mike & Abby, getting married in Chicago.

I've needed a week to do nothing. And boy have I ever. Lots of sleeping, grilling, hanging out with my friends from the Class of '95 who were in town for their reunion. I have some pictures from the above, but I'm still downloading them, color correcting & etc. Expect a post soon, or just watch my Flickr account, which I'm getting better at using.

So anyway, here's some new greatness:

UPDATE:  This is a really great animated essay on Social Security which does a great job of explaining how the government taxes us, and spends our money. It cleared up a few things for me, notably the difference between talking about the general fund & Social Security as a program that is distinct from it, and how politicians change what they're talking about depending on whether they want there to be a Social Security crisis, or whether they believe that it will do fine if left alone. Please forward this on to anyone who can appreciate it.

UPDATE 2:  Check out a new book called Free Software for Busy People that you can read online & purchase for the open-source-ignorant people in your life. It's got bits on OpenOffice.org & on Mozilla/Firefox. That's what I'm talking about!! There's even a blog if you want to check it.

UPDATE 3: Millions of Mashups on 99x.com, including the infamous Boulevard of Broken Songs [mp3 link] that's been getting airplay around here lately. Y'know, Green Day v. Oasis v. Travis v. Eminem. I'm also enjoying Daft Queen with Another One Bites Da Funk.

I really enjoyed this fantastic NYT article on the new incarnation of Battlestar Galactica.

John Allison of Scary Go Round has a blog, Modern Internets Are Rubbish. I still like him even though he's killing of characters left & right lately.

I have some friends who have started podcasting. Here's their page on Odeo.

Idlewild have a new album coming out. It was recorded in the U.S., but has been released elsewhere first, and will be released here in the states in August.  In the meantime, you can buy an import. Or just wait.

New Ray's Place on Achewood.

Here's a freaking sweet post on Airbag.

Artsy-types, let's play The Conversation Game. Takes me back to my NASC days.

I assure you, there were No Hipsters at my Total Hipster Party.

Finally, here's Why I'm Leaving the Troupe.

What I'm Tripping On - Friday Links

First of all, more big ups to Max for making his new webcomic Quickstep free.

He's trying to figure out how to make his work accessible & eventually make money off it. Go read it, fall in love with it, and buy a t-shirt from the guy. That's what I plan to do.

Also in the world of webcomics is a new serialized version of War of the Worlds being released by Darkhorse comics. Oh. My. God. It's good. Art by D'Israeli [his site is down, this is all I could find].

Colors magazine is running a photo contest. What Does Lust Look Like?

Daft Punk Is Playing At My [Robotic Dog] House. I wish Roast Beef could have entered. I think he and Molly would have really enjoyed a trip to Japan. Then again, maybe not. [Ed. - I really need to make an database/index of my favorite Achewood strips so that I can have them easily accessible for posts like this one.] - via Kottke

In Defense of Drinking Expensive Wine. - also via Kottke

I want an iMic. via Kate & Cliff

Neal Stephenson on the Larger Lessons of Star Wars - directly ripped off of Kottke

My two favorite sources for online news have re-designed in the past  few weeks. Both The Morning News and the International Herald Tribune are much larger - optimized for viewing at 1024 x 768 resolution -- and prettier to look at. More importantly, they're easier to access. Here's a bit from the editors of TMN on why they did what they did.

I want an outdoor fireplace/grill. But do I get this one or this one?

Any other suggestions?

Finally, it took me all week to realize that my the photos for my Pimp My House entry didn't ever get properly loaded. They're up now, if you want to check them out.

...

Lorenzo character & image used with permission from Max Riffner

Two Things

Wanted to give shouts out to work being done by friends of mine.

First of all, go check out Quick Step, his new webcomic. I am super-excited to see max try this form out, and not just because he's shared the script, or because I won the naming contest.

Secondly, Mr. Larsen has started Placement an online forum for critical writing & thinking. I was particularly impressed by Suffering From Comparison.

Few And Far Between

While I haven't been prolific lately, I do feel like things are better than they have been in a long time. Winter was difficult and seemingly never-ending. Now that I can go outside without a jacket, well I'm a lot happier. Here's hoping the allergy gods go easy on me this year.

Teaching my first yoga class at Lighthouse Yoga went well on Monday. Many thanks to everyone who came for their support, to Jed and Sarah for giving me the opportunity. I think it went well overall, with plenty of room for better teaching methods. If all goes well, I could be teaching a drop-in class next month. Yoga's been especially good to me these past few months, keeping me fit mentally, physically & spiritually.

My brother is finally moved in. We haven't really had that much time for complete hilarity to ensue, but we're hoping to be up to hijinx in no time. Going to miss Chris and Zara, but he assures me they're doing well.

In other news, I got my Free Annual Credit Report  from the three major credit reporting agencies. It's a pretty painless process, but you'll want to have access to account numbers for your credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, etc. for verification purposes. I didn't and had to call a couple of helpful customer service people to get it straightened out. No real blemishes on my record.

There's two schools of thought on getting your reports, since you get one from each of the three majors per calendar year. One is to get them all at once and compare. The other is to space them out every four months to keep tabs on your file & to prevent identity theft. I opted for all three since I haven't checked them since getting my mortgage a year and a half ago. I'll probably space the next batch out, assuming I'm organized enough to check back.

It's probably a bit too late for some of you, but anyone looking to file their federal tax return for free can go through Tax Freedom which is the free version of Turbo Tax. I've done my taxes online for the last few years, and have been happy with how simple, quick, and easy-to-use the whole process is.

Keeping with the free theme, here is a Free Online Wine Course from the Culinary Institute of America. I haven't taken it yet, so this is a sight-unseen recommendation.

More links:

Great Johnny Depp Interview in the Guardian - I love his take on smoking. He's cut down to three a day, "For a nicotine junkie, the essential cigs are three: the first-of-the-day cigarette smoked after lunch, then the after-dinner cigarette and then the one taken whenever you want - the luxury wild-card smoke."

A Scanner Darkly is more Richard Linklater rotoscope fun. [You all know I love Waking Life , right?] This time he takes on a Phillip K. Dick novel. So, by fun, I mean paranoia in a futuristic world where they are after you, or at least watching you. See the trailer here.

The Amazing Adventures of Lethem & Chabon - A fun comic exploration/critique of a couple of great modern authors.

Spidey Bible Stories

Harold Pinter is done writing plays

The Wurst Gallery  - Nice collaborative art projects

Dan sent me Gizoogle a while ago. Kind of like Snoop Dogg's Shizzolator. Wait, maybe exactly like.

And for Bronson, Ninja Jeopardy. Here's a link at ebaumsworld if you can't get the first to work.

Reflection Potpourri

As some of you know, my roommate Chris is soon to be an ex-. He accepted a job in Colorado, and has been telecommuting for the last few weeks while he makes good his escape. Went out to send him off last night, and what started as a drink at the Cork & Bottle ended up us closing down the 49er, and then just spinning yarns on the front porch. It was good to send him off, he's been a good roommate, a good friend, and I wish him well.

What's fascinating to me is how lucid I am today. It took a bit to pry me out of bed after only four hours of sleep, but I managed. I suppose last night was exactly what I needed. Or maybe it's just that I'm in the middle of a lot of transition. Chris moving out. My brother moving in. Starting the yoga class. New people appearing in my life. I've been caught up in a lot of them, but last night is when the significance kind of sunk in. How these things shape and define this time in my life.

I suppose two other things that made my morning were: a Dartmouth Commencement Speech by Mr. Fred Rogers from a couple of years back, and a new Improv Everywhere mission involving synchronized dancing in windows. Mr. Rogers's speech is simple in its language, sincere in its examples, and embodies the sense of wonder I'm feeling today. The latter is just cool. I've got a bunch of other things saved up, but they'll just have to wait.

Link Thursday

Yet another reason I don't want to go to grad school unless it is paid for. I mean, I hate borrowing money, I can't forsee ever filing for bankruptcy, but if it doesn't do any good...

Here are a couple of links to really cool mail-a-camera projects. One on Verba and the inspiration behind it. Also, check out tips to do your own cameramail.

Finally, words of wisdom from Bruce Lee.

Best Book Report, Evar

Bronson is going to flip out over this one and kill someone. After all, he's the one who turned me on to B3ta and also Rathergood. But I think this flash animation takes the cake, or the oscar, or the oscar for book reports done in flash. It starts out with characters, rising action, and then incorporates everything awesome known to man or woman. Or at least, 12-year-old boys. Ladies & Gents, How To Kill A Mockingbird.

Thank you, morning news. Thank you for showing me this.

Joys of Low-Fi

Max has been quick to point out that I've been talking schmack about digital cameras for god knows how long, but that I have yet to buy one. And while I didn't want to get a camera phone but since my old phone was slowly dying, I was more than happy to take my mom's old phone off her hands.

And, you know, it's kind of fun.

I took this shot of Christian & Sonali on the pedestrian overpass by my house. We were watching Coffee & Cigarettes and we ran out of Cigarettes, so we made a run to the Louis for Camels. I like how Zoo Tv

it feels. It appeals to me the way Polaroids do. Instant gratification, a decidedly amateur quality, and unintended light efffects in the background. It's an imperfect and stylized -- some would say stylish -- capture of the moment.